Greg Cosell: Dissecting The Bills Offense, Buffalo At Cleveland In-Depth Game Preview

Greg Cosell: Dissecting The Bills Offense, Buffalo At Cleveland In-Depth Game Preview

joined as we are every week at this time by senior producer from NFL films Greg Coell whose weekly appearance on one bills live is presented by Pepsi. Pepsi is the official soft drink of the Buffalo Bills. Food deserves Pepsi. And Greg, I want to begin with how the Bills over these last few weeks have diversified their passing game to feature the tight ends considerably more. The last two weeks, 19 receptions, 207 yards, and four touchdowns. And uh between the tight ends and backs last week against New England, Greg, 13 of Josh Allen’s 19 completions to backs and tight ends. How do you feel it might make Buffalo’s passing game more difficult to defend and prepare for? >> Well, I think some’s been schematic, uh, which obviously is by design, and some has been a function of, um, what the coverage has shown them. For instance, I’ll give you an example of the second one. I thought the 24 yard to concade Brownie, I’m sure you remember this play. It was third and seven from the minus 12 yardd line late in the third quarter. turned out to be a big big play in the game obviously, >> but I again I don’t know who the primary was, you know, when that play was called, but that was a clear case where the coverage showed uh cuz the the the Patriots ended up backing out from a pressure front and going to traditional cover two and they left the middle wide open and Concaid settled into the middle void and Josh put it right on him. So, I think it’s been a combination clearly of um uh scheme and then the way plays have played out. I mean, even even the 14y touchdown to Knox, which came in the fourth quarter, which was their only snap where they were in what we call O2 personnel, where they had two tight ends and three wide receivers on the field. Um, Knox did a great job of of bending that route further inside when he saw Josh Allen move because that was just basically um, you know, it was it was five verticals was the play call and Knox just reacted to seeing Josh move. So, some of it is clearly schematic, some of it is a function of play calls. U, but it’s it’s kind of worked out. Um, you know, we’ve seen them do a good job with backs as well. the way they’ve they’ve uh you know, one play I love which I love to do on the matchup show and we’ve done it over the years is when they send Cook basically from one offset side of the formation through the line of scrimmage on a rail route or wheel route to the other side. So, it’s been a combination of things, but it’s been really really effective. >> What has been and we ask you this unfortunately we ask you this too much. Did anything schematically change that you noted from first half, second half? I mean, obviously it it couldn’t have been more different for both those clubs. Uh New England coming out this last week hanging 21 points right out of the gate and then the Bills come storming back and beat them. Um in your mind, what changes in those games? >> There were I thought there were two things that stood out to me on film defensively. um in the in the um second half instead of playing 425 nickel which they did play they played a lot of snaps of 335 nickel. Now again you know I’m not I’m not in the uh halftime locker room so I don’t know what the thought process was but clearly they decided that playing 335 nickel with three linebackers on the field was a better way to defend the Patriots particularly when they’re in their nickel. you know, obviously I’m talking about, you know, more pure pass type situations than playing 425. And it turned out to be really effective. The other thing that really stood out was they played a lot more of what we call twoman coverage. So they played, you know, two deep safeties and man-to-man across the board. And they did feature a spy very often when they did that because obviously May has movement skills. But both those things turned out to be really favorable. And I don’t know whether it I don’t want to say confused cuz I don’t know what’s in Drake May’s head, but he was very tentative in the second half. Uh you know, there were there were throws there to be made. He didn’t see them as cleanly as he did in the first half and quite frankly as he’s seen them all season long. So uh whatever they did and and those two things stood out, he just didn’t see it the way he did in the first half. >> Does anything change in Buffalo’s run defense? cuz uh certainly they get they the Patriots snapped off the two big runs the 52 and the 65 yder >> but you know and >> well they only ran it three times in the second half why what happened what happened to the Patriot run game do you think what what was that them or the Bills defense >> I I you know it’s funny you asked that because when watching that tape I got this sense that and and and Brownie made a great point here I got this sense that that game because the Bills controlled the ball for so long in the second half that the game just kind of got away from them in how they wanted to play it. And sometimes that happens. Um, you know, one thing to keep in mind, uh, you know, obviously there’s always a narrative that Josh Allen is Superman and and you know how I feel about Josh Allen, but the Bills have the most second half rushes of any team in the NFL. And James Cook has the most second half rushes of any back in the league. This is a team that when they come out in the second half almost no matter what the score is, they stabilize their offense with the run game. I mean, you know, rarely, and I think Brownie, tell me if if you can remember otherwise, certainly this year, rarely do they come out in the second half when they’re down and just start tossing the ball all over the yard. >> They do not play that way. >> No. And it’s been very fruitful for them because they lead the league in second half point differential at plus 116. I mean, nobody’s even close to them. >> So, they’ve been really good in the second half. >> You know, they’re they’re they’re a very good running team. The O line is has played really really well. Um, they come out, they run the ball. We’ve seen their run game be extremely multiple depending on the opponent. You know, some weeks it’s a lot of gap scheme with pullers. Other weeks it’s a lot of zone where you don’t see anybody pull. Some weeks is a good mix of both. Um, but this team runs the ball. Like I said, you know, maybe many would be surprised that that James Cook has more second half rushes than any back in the league cuz I think there’s a sense just out there that every second half is just about Josh Allen and no one else and they actually play pretty strong team ball. >> Before we get too far away from it, you mentioned the 335 nickel package that they ran last week. Um, I’m also of the belief that they’ve come to the realization that without Michael Hoy the rest of the way and without Ed Oliver until the postseason, they don’t have enough of a speed rush from their men up front. And I feel like they’ve utilized their linebackers to fill that void. Now, I’m not saying the 335 is the formation they’re going to use every week, but I do think they’re going to be deploying Matt Milano, Dorian Williams, you know, Shaq Thompson, those guys a lot more in their, for lack of a better term, speed rush package going forward. Would you anticipate that as well? >> Well, they certainly had success this week, so you would think so. I mean, again, you know, we don’t know how each game plan is, and we can talk about the Browns momentarily, so we don’t know how, you know, Sean and Bob Abage see and and the coaches on the defensive side see each particular opponent, but there’s definitely a speed factor. I mean, they have way more speed on the field. Milano obviously had two sacks in the second half. Um, there were times Milano and Williams were part of pressure concepts. So, you know, you definitely have a speed factor. Obviously, you sacrifice theoretically size and strength, but you know, what you said, Brownie does make sense. Um, you know, they they probably don’t have that one guy right now that you look at and and again, Bosa’s had a really fine year for them. So, it’s no knock on Bosa at all, but um obviously they did it. So, you know, we’re just saying what they did and it was effective. We’ve been talking about the Cleveland Browns a little bit and certainly the team that’s struggles and I I in the film that I’ve watched it doesn’t strike me that Shadore is out there necessarily struggling. He looks like he’s he’s got something on the he’s he doesn’t stink I guess is what I’m saying. Um he’s getting better. You know what I mean? Uh he does bring something to the table, right? >> Yeah. you know, see, because of who he is, I think there’s a sense that uh, you know, he’s talked about differently than you would talk about a quarterback that has three NFL starts. So, you know, I I try not to get into any of that. I mean, I look at a guy that has three NFL starts. So, what do you see? You see some really good plays like when he hit Bond on a 42 yard on third and 10 late in the second quarter. That was a big time read and throw by Sanders. It was late coverage rotation, which by the way, the Bills do a lot of. um and he read it and he knew exactly where to go with the football. It was a big- time throw. Um then there’s other times where you just see that he’s not processing the routes versus the coverage as quickly as he needs to and that there are some throws that he leaves on the field because of that. None of this is is to me I mean I’ve been doing this a while you know as you guys know none of this to me is surprising. You know he’s only played three games and we know prior to even playing that he wasn’t getting you know a lot of first team reps. So, you’re going to see good plays and you’re going to see bad plays and or or less than good plays. Bad is a relative term. You know, it’s not as if he’s throwing, you know, four picks a game. Um are there times he holds the ball too long? Yes. Um the one thing that can be cleaned up for sure, but I think it’s something that will be talked about by the Dline coach and the linebacker coach is he does have a tendency to um hold the ball with one hand both in the pocket and when he moves. And you know that’s something that can be cleaned up and must be cleaned up cuz you really can’t play like that on a consistent basis in the NFL. >> One of the things I was going to ask you, he’s got Bond he throws to he likes to throw the deep ball. We know he’s he’s pretty good at it, >> but the guy he’s kind of leaning on more when he’s not throwing the deep ball is the rookie tight end Fannon. >> What talk to me about that combination? Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, they play a ton of 12 personnel. They’re one of the highest percentage 12 personnel offenses in the league where that means they have one back and two tight ends. Um, and Fannon is has become a really good player. And I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t I I didn’t love his tape coming out. He’s played way beyond what my evaluation was of him. Um, uh, and and he’s clearly sort of their number one receiver right now. Um, so we’ll see. Now, I know they’ve got some injuries this week that will impact their O line. Um, I believe Conklin’s out. But I believe Teller’s out, so they’re playing with some backups. Um, of course, they’ve been playing with some backups here and there throughout the year. Um, you know, and when you’re playing with backups, your quarterback has to be incredibly precise in in playing with timing and getting rid of the ball. And that’s where Sanders are still learning. Like I said, he started three games. You know, people are, you know, it’s almost impossible to have a sense of what he is going to be, you know, which of course everybody wants to do that, but you do see some flashes. I mean, you’re right, Steve. I mean, there there are really good throws. Even the interception he threw that went off Judy was a big- time throw, >> right? >> So, Greg, um, what about how this draft class is filling large roles for the Browns? I mean, almost frontto back. You, you know, you got Sanders, Judkins, who looks like a tackle breaking back that has some pop and punch. Um, you already mentioned Fannon. You got Isaiah Bond Swisser’s killing it on def on on defense. >> A really good player. Like how are we just seeing this draft class on display because they need them in the lineup or do you feel that they’ve earned these roles and Cleveland hit it out of the park with the draft class? Well, I think based on production of a number of these players and even Dylan Samson before he got hurt, I think he’s out this week if I’m not mistaken, but he was providing quality play as this as the compliment to Judkins. I do know for a fact that when they drafted both those backs, Brownie, that they anticipated just what they were getting, Judkins as the foundation back and Samson as the compliment, and that was working out well. Um, Swissinger’s been really good. Not not just a guy that has to play because they didn’t have anybody else. He’s been a really good player. You could say the same with Fannon. Um, so it’s been a really good draft class. Obviously, the big question will be how they see Sanders. I imagine the next three games in their mind will determine quite a bit um as to where, you know, where they go at the quarterback position. So, you know, and they’re with them every day, so they know more than we do. Um, but and you know, their defense has been up and down, but it’s not an easy defense to play against. So, you know, Jim Schwarz, you know, one of the questions I love to ask offensive coaches that I know is who are the tougher defensive coordinators to play against? And Jim Schwarz’s name always comes up. So, you know, even though they may not have great people, obviously they’ve got a pretty good pass rusher, but even though they may not have great people from top to bottom, and Denzel Ward’s going to be out as well, so, you know, it’s still not an easy defense to play against. Uh, give me some ideas of what Cleveland is trying to do with Shadore. I mean, where I mean, most of the time when you get these, you know, an offensive coordinator will start to stay away from things he doesn’t do well, try and give him stuff that he’s absolutely done well trying to expand his envelope of, you know, trying to get him to grow a little bit. What is Cleveland’s strategy as you see it for how they’re handling Shadur in their play calling and what they’re what they’re giving him more of and what they’re giving him less of? Well, I think because of of his tendency to to hold the ball at times, I think you’re trying to play the the timing and rhythm pass game. Uh you’re trying to work off run action. You’re trying to get the ball out of his hands. You’re trying to present, which every coach does, but with some quarterbacks, it’s more important than others. You’re trying to present clean reads so that he can hit the back foot, deliver the football, so that he doesn’t get stuck in the pocket. Um, you know, and you know, it there’s been a lot of wonderful conversation this week and I loved listening to Kirk Cousins. I don’t know if you guys saw that talking about progression re versus kind of the old school way of playing. I don’t know if you guys saw that clip. It’s been phenomenal. You know, you’re trying to, >> you know, I think when a quarterback is young and a quarterback comes out of college, he obviously doesn’t know a lot about Stephen, you know this, he doesn’t know a lot about NFL defenses. So, you can’t overload him with what he’s looking at. And then I think that’s why pure progression has become such a big deal because it’s not that you don’t need to know anything about the defense, but you’re not working off, oh well, this side is man, this side is zone, so now I’m going to work my man route or now I’m going to work my zone, you know, and plus defenses and Shawn’s great at this. Defenses do such a good job at disguise. So you can’t overload a quarterback’s head with all that. He’s not ready for that. No rookie is. It’s not a It’s not a Sanders thing. So you try to give him pure progression reads where in a sense you’re anticipating what you think you’re going to get from the defense and you have him just go one to two to three without necessarily worrying about all the nuances of defense. Maybe all you he needs to know is hey is the middle open, middle closed and where’s a blitz alert. Other than that just let’s let’s go through the progression. And I think that’s what you’re trying to do with him. >> Last one for me, Greg. I know the system is the same, but Tommy Reeves took over as play caller on offense from Kevin Stfansky recently. Has there been any noticeable difference that that you’ve just kind of picked up on in your review of their offensive film? Maybe they’ve been too inconsistent to really make an assessment. Um, and maybe they’ve been too much long down and distance to really get a handle on Ree as a play caller. But I was curious if there was anything that popped up to you that might be slightly different scheme wise. That’s a hard question for me to answer. I really don’t know. I’m just being honest. Um, you know, I think that Dylan Gabriel and Sanders are are totally different players, right? So, you know, it’s it’s that’s hard to get a feel for that. Um, >> for some reason Dylan Gabriel and and I know that Kevin Stfansky really liked him coming out, which is obviously why they drafted him in the third round and thought he could run his offense effectively. Um, and there were times he looked like he could run that style of offense under center play action, get the ball out, but to me, and I don’t know why this happens, Gabriel just did not look throwing the ball like he did in college. It just did not look the same. I don’t know why. You know, sometimes you see that with players at any, you know, any position. Whereas, you know, Sanders, I say what you want. I mean, does he have a gun? No. But he’s he can throw the ball. I mean, there’s no issue with his arm strength. He can make throws. Um, you know, he I kind of agree with what Steve said. I mean, through three games, you know, again, that’s all we have. But he he can he can make throws. He can get the ball down the field clearly better than Gabriel can. He’s made some good deep throws. I mean, you’ve seen that, you know. Um, and I just think that if if if he can hit his back foot and deliver the football, which is obviously always the goal, then I think I think he he can run your offense efficiently. And that’s what they’re hoping at this point. They want to run the ball. That’s where they start. And you you nailed it, Brownie. Judkins is a physical, tough inside runner. He gets hard yards. You got you got to get a lot of bodies on him. >> Yeah. >> Last one for me. And Greg, give us one last little take on Josh. I mean, he can we’ve said on this show and you’ve said it. Um the way the Bills run this sometimes it doesn’t look sustainable, right? I mean, it looks like they they dig this hole like they did against Cincinnati and like they did against New England and, you know, Josh >> gets the backhoe out and fills the hole in, right? I mean, he just gets them out of it. Um, but by the same token, part of their recipe has been to take a lot of this off Josh’s plate with the run game, >> right? Um they seem able they seem able to win that way and certainly Josh did some extraordinary things which he always does but it does seem like a recipe for most of it that they can replicate and they will be able to win games because of >> Yeah. I mean, I guess the main question is, you know, um they’ve had they used to have a lot of fast starts, as you know, and now they have a lot of slow starts. And again, they’re not in the playoffs yet, so you know, but assuming that they get in, you know, you certainly don’t want to be in a situation where in the playoffs all of a sudden you’re down 173 at the half. So, you know, that’s a hard question to answer as to why their offense um although it’s funny, you know, I I didn’t see this first play live, but when I put the tape on and saw the first play of the game that that Cooks dropped, I’m thinking, “Oh, that would have been, you know, a 30-yard gain on the first play of the game.” Uh, you know, and and and that was a nice route combination. Uh, but it’s I’m sure they’re trying to figure it out, Steve. you know what what they can get done earlier in games that involves the pass game because look the run game’s been really good and we know that Cook does have the ability to be explosive but percentage-wise you don’t get as many explosive plays in the run game as you do in the pass game. So the question is you know with this the run game’s very sustainable but will that be enough? You know do they need to get more somewhere along the line out of the pass game? And you know there’s no right or wrong answer here. I mean, I’m sure they’re working on that, you know, and if they can, then they’re a really difficult team to defend. If not, then you get into these situations where at times it feels like they can go three or four drives and not a lot happens. >> Yeah, Greg, thanks for the time as always. Uh, have yourself a happy holiday and we’ll catch up with you next week. >> Yeah, you two guys have a great holiday, but you know, we know how it is, right, Brownie? It’s football season. >> That’s right. Still working. Um, >> that’s right. >> Thanks, Greg. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend.

NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell joined One Bills Live. He talked about the Bills offense, the new wrinkles the team has implemented, and the change in schematics from the first half to the second half in their win over the Patriots. He went on to discuss this weekend’s matchup with the Browns, including what he has seen from QB Shedeur Sanders, Cleveland’s rookie class that’s been on display, and overcoming slow starts offensively.

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